65 Tom Cullen on overcoming devastation and adapting to single parenting
“The best advice I can give myself as a dad is that love is the baseline. The kids will always have my love. They need to know that. They need to feel that. I can be upset, sad, embarrassed, furious, all those things. But there will always be that base love. Of course I’ll always love them no matter what. But the key is that they know and feel that, always.”
In this session, Tom, an entrepreneur and single dad of two daughters aged 6 and 8, shares about the time where he had to literally pack up and leave the family home with his two kids within a couple of hours.
We spoke about his shifted approach to business and parenting and the importance of constant re-evaluation of our own approach to parenting, goal setting for kids and how to show emotion to our children whilst shielding them from the unnecessary adult baggage we might be experiencing.
“The best advice I can give myself as a dad is that love is the baseline. The kids will always have my love. They need to know that. They need to feel that. I can be upset, sad, embarrassed, furious, all those things. But there will always be that base love. Of course I’ll always love them no matter what. But the key is that they know and feel that, always.” Tom Cullen on DADicated
Tom Cullen is a single dad and entrepreneur who lives with his two daughters who are six and eight in a small, rural town in New York.
Tom shares an episode where he had to literally pack up and leave the family home with his two kids within a couple of hours. He has never returned to that home, became a single father and dramatically shifted his approach to both his business and parenting thereafter.
We spoke together about how to establish family values, how to run family retreats and family meetings, the importance of constant re-evaluation of our own approach to parenting, goal setting for kids and how to show emotion to our children whilst shielding them from the unnecessary baggage we might be experiencing as adults.
The most powerful takeaways for me as a dad were:
- It’s very possible to turn devastation into empowerment and strength by conscious acts.
- Teaching my kids how a new toy works is an incredible opportunity to connect, teach and bond.
- Being a good dad is cool. Make it positive and engaging.
- Teach goal setting in a playful way early on.
To book my remote keynote on how we can empower dads in an effort to help facilitate family success please reach out via dadicated.com or simply use my LinkedIn (below).
Thanks for listening, if you like this one, please share the session.
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomascullen/
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Philipp Hartmann (host):
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipphartmann2
Dadicated: https://www.dadicated.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beingdad_official/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/philipphartmann
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Tom Cullen
Tom Cullen’s mission is to lead a purposeful life filled with gratitude that encourages, supports, and inspires others to reach their highest potential.
After growing up in a small town of 1,000 people (Cattaraugus, NY), he attended St. Bonaventure University. Tom started his career in finance as a trader in the Chicago trading pits. After 6 years, he left the floor to start a high speed trading firm and became very involved in building trading software. During that time, he kept seeing missed growth opportunities because of a lack of technology knowledge.
In 2012, Tom co-founded a software development consultancy (LaunchPad Lab) to help bridge that gap focusing on finance, healthcare, and more. He sold LaunchPad Lab in 2018 and moved back to his hometown of Cattaraugus to focus on raising his 6 and 8 year old daughters.
Since selling LaunchPad Lab, Tom is developing a high end boutique resort and other projects focused on re-energizing and revitalizing the area. He also has returned to his alma mater, St. Bonaventure University, as the founding director of the SBU Innovation Center. With a mission to help grow purpose driven innovators, their goal is to help find solutions that will contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Tom recently served as the president of the Western NY chapter of EO (Entrepreneurs Organization) and continues to sit on the board.
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